What is bid’ah? To understand this concept, we need to know that the religion of Islam is purely legislated by Allah. No one can introduce or remove rulings from this religion. Not even the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) owns the right to change anything in this religion or introduce any new law from his own desire. The job of the Prophet (pbuh) is to simply convey the message. The Qur’an says in Surah Najm, verse 3 and 4, “Nor does he speak of his own whims. It is only a revelation sent down ˹to him˺.”. Having said that, we now know that no one has the right to introduce new laws, practices or anything else into the religion that is not a part of this religion. It also makes no sense to do so since adding something to it makes it seem that this religion is incomplete in that something was missing which is now being added, whereas this religion was completed during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh). The Qur’an says in verse 3 of Surah Al-Maidah: “Today I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your way.” Thus, bid’ah is anything new that is introduced into the religion.

Now we need to understand another concept which is that this innovation is only forbidden in religious matters. We are open to practice whatever we like in our worldly matters (except forbidden by religion). So everything is permissible in worldly matters, except for that which is forbidden by Islam and everything is forbidden in religious matters except for that which is proven as authentic from the teachings of Islam.

So how do we know what a religious matter or a worldly matter is. A simple test is to put the task in front of a non-Muslim and see if he does it. So a non-Muslim would not pray with you, do umrah or pilgrimage with you, fast with you, or make dua like you. So these are religious matters where innovation is prohibited. However, the non-Muslim would use an air-conditioner with you, use a car with you, use sunglasses like you, and thus these are worldly matters where innovation is allowed.

How should we know if some religious matter is innovation or not? Simple, just see if the action or belief is found in the authentic Islamic teachings or whether the first generations of Muslims actually practiced it.

Now what happens in certain Pakistani masajid are actions like reading the shahadah aloud after every prayer, or having a constant system of actions such as congregational dua after the prayers, or organized circles of remembrance etc. The simple question is: Where are they found in authentic Islamic teachings?

Now I will present some Qur’anic verses and Hadith in relation to this matter of bid’ah.

1. Surah Al-Hujurat, verse 1: “O believers! Do not proceed ˹in any matter˺ before ˹a decree from˺ Allah and His Messenger.” So obviously no one is allowed to add anything by themselves into this religion.
   
2. Surah Al-Imran, verse 24: “They have been deceived in their faith by their wishful lying.” Thus, following your wishes and desires and not relying on knowledge can mislead you.
   
3. Surah Al-Ma’idah, verse 3: “Today I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your way.” Thus, It makes no sense to add something to religion since adding something to it makes this religion to be seen as incomplete in that something was missing which is now being added, whereas this religion was completed during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh).
   
4. Sahih Bukhari 2697: “If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected.” So you don’t want to waste so much hard work.
   
5. Sunan Nisai 1578: “The truest of word is the Book of Allah and best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire.” And these things (innovations) can easily be understood as the worst of things since they are considered as good things by the doer who is doing them as a form of worship and expecting a reward, while he is actually sinning.
   
6. Tirmidhi 2738: “Narrated Hadrami, the freed slave of the family of Al-Jarud:
   from Nafi: “A man sneezed beside Ibn ‘Umar and said: ‘Al-Hamdulillah Was-Salamu ‘Ala Rasulillah. (All praise is due to Allah, and peace upon the Messenger of Allah)’. So Ibn ‘Umar said: ‘I too say Al-Hamdulillah Was-Salamu ‘Ala Rasulillah, but this is not what the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) taught us. He taught us to say: “Al-Hamdulillah ‘Ala Kulli Hal (All praise is due to Allah in every circumstance).” Here it is so clear that even saying something for a reward is only acceptable if it is done according to the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh). Sending peace upon the prophet is something good, yet we should only say after sneezing what we’re taught to say after sneezing.
   
7. Sunan Ad-Darimi 204: ‘Amr bin Yaḥyā said: “I heard my father narrating from his father who said: ‘We were at the door of ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas’ūd before the early morning prayer. When we came out we walked with him to the masjid. Abū Mūsā al-Ash’arī came up to us and said: ‘Has not Abū ‘Abdur-Raḥmān come out to you yet?’ We said: ‘No.’ He sat down with us until (Abū ‘Abdur-Raḥmān) came out. When he came out, we all stood up to greet him, and Abū Mūsā said to him: ‘O Abū ‘Abdur-Raḥmān, earlier I saw in the masjid something that I have never seen before, but it seems good, alḥamdulillāh.’ He said: ‘And what was it?’ He said: ‘If you live, you will see it. I saw people in the masjid sitting in circles waiting for the prayer. In every circle there was a man, and they had pebbles in their hands. He would say: ‘Say Allāhu Akbar one hundred times,’ and they would say Allāhu Akbar one hundred times. Then he would say: ‘Say Lā ilāha illallāh one hundred times,’ then he would say: ‘Say Subḥānallāh one hundred times,’ and they would say Subḥānallāh one hundred times.’ He asked: ‘What did you say to them?’ He said: ‘I did not say anything to them; I was waiting to see what your opinion would be and what you would tell me to do.’ He said: ‘Why did you not tell them to count their bad deeds and guarantee them that nothing of their good deeds would be wasted?’ Then he left, and we went with him, until he reached one of those circles. He stood over them and said: ‘What is this I see you doing?’ They said: ‘O Abū ‘Abdur-Raḥmān, these are pebbles we are using to count our takbīr, tahlīl and tasbīḥ.’ He said: ‘Count your bad deeds, and I guarantee that nothing of your good deeds will be wasted. Woe to you, O Ummah of Muḥammad, how quickly you are getting destroyed! The companions of your Prophet are still alive, his garment is not yet worn out and his vessels are not yet broken. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, either you are following a way that is more guided than that of Muḥammad or you have opened a door of misguidance!’ They said: ‘By Allāh, O Abū ‘Abdur-Raḥmān, we only wanted to do good.’ He said: ‘How many of those who wanted to do good failed to achieve it! The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) told us that people recite Qurān and it does not go any further than their throats. By Allāh, I do not know, maybe most of them are people like you.’ Then he turned away from them. ‘Amr bin Salamah said: ‘I saw most of the men of those circles fighting alongside the khawārij on the day of Nahrawān.’’”

This long hadith basically shows that even remembering Allah cannot be done by forming a new system of rememberance. Even that is an innovation in Islam.

Finally, let me end with two scary ahadith.

8. Sahih Muslim 1017: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: “He who introduced some good practice in Islam which was followed after him (by people) he would be assured of reward like one who followed it, without their rewards being diminished in any respect. And he who introduced some evil practice in Islam which had been followed subsequently (by others), he would be required to bear the burden like that of one who followed this (evil practice) without their’s being diminished in any respect.” So do you want to carry the burden of others you misguided as well by committing and preaching these innovations?? Think about it…
   
9. Sahih Bukhari 6584: “An-Numan bin AbiAiyash, on hearing me, said. “Did you hear this from Sahl?” I said, “Yes.” He said, ” I bear witness that I heard Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri saying the same, adding that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘I will say: They are of me (i.e. my followers). It will be said, ‘You do not know what they innovated (new things) in the religion after you left’. I will say, ‘Far removed, far removed (from mercy), those who changed (their religion) after me.”

SO THE BIG QUESTION IS: DO YOU WANT TO RISK BEING REJECTED THE WATER FROM THE FOUNTAIN ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT BECAUSE OF SUCH INNOVATIONS ???